The Eldritch Conspiracy (Blood Song) Page 14

  and I had spoken privately. “Adriana, I

  know you did not want to leave my side

  in the hospital, but I appreciate you

  making that sacrifice. Queen Chiyoko…”

  She let the sentence go unfinished.

  Probably best. I’d met Queen Chiyoko,

  another of the siren royals, from the

  Pacific Rim siren clan. From what I’d

  seen, there wasn’t any nice way to finish

  a sentence about her. Maybe she was a

  terrific ruler. I didn’t know. I did know

  she was arrogant, ambitious, and wanted

  to see me dead.

  “She and some of the other queens are

  already here and have requested the

  large conference room for later today.”

  Adriana’s eyes flashed dangerously.

  Chiyoko

  was

  definitely

  a

  tough

  customer, but I wouldn’t want to cross

  Adriana with that look on her face.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, Mother. I

  will take care of it. Concentrate on

  getting well. You will have your throne

  to come back to.”

  Apparently Lopaka had seen the same

  steel in her daughter that I had. She

  smiled, proud and pleased. “I don’t

  doubt it. You will be a fine queen,

  daughter.”

  There was a flicker of warmth in the

  green eyes. Adriana spoke again, with a

  heavy sigh. “I don’t worry about my

  safety for the moment, but I won’t be

  able to leave Serenity for the duration of

  this impromptu queens’ council. Celia, I

  must ask for your help. Someone must be

  responsible

  for

  obtaining

  the

  bridesmaids’ dresses. And someone

  must guard Natasha and Olga as well.”

  I hated it, but she was right. If

  someone was whittling down the

  wedding party to disrupt the event, the

  bridesmaids were certain targets. But

  while Adriana was confident about her

  safety, I didn’t know that I agreed. A lot

  of people live on Serenity, not to

  mention the many visitors arriving for

  the wedding. No doubt the queen’s guard

  and security force was going to be

  pressed to the limit, running background

  checks on every guest and citizen. I

  certainly couldn’t be at two places at

  once. Serenity. Who was on Seren—?

  Okay. I had a thought about a scenario I

  could accept. Lopaka must have been

  listening in to my thoughts because she

  lifted delicate blonde eyebrows just as I

  once again raised a hand to catch

  everyone’s eyes. “Sorry to interrupt, but

  how about this—I’ve worked with

  Helen Baker of the Siren Guard. I trust

  her skill, and her loyalty is without

  question. If she’s available, I’d be

  willing to work with her as a partner in

  protecting Adriana and the Rusland

  bridesmaids. Partners protect each other,

  which meets your desires, and I can trust

  her to guard Adriana while on Serenity,

  meeting my goals. Would that be

  satisfactory?”

  Lopaka nodded. “That would be

  satisfactory. Her skill is renowned and I

  would trust her with my life … or that of

  my daughter. I will make her available.”

  Adriana mirrored her mother’s dip of

  the head. “Baker is acceptable.”

  It didn’t appear that Dahlmar had met

  her, even though he was once on the

  island when she was working with me.

  He deferred the issue about the

  protection of his future bride to Creede

  by looking up at him with a questioning

  expression. Creede said, “I’ve met her.

  She’s qualified. Quick, a good shot,

  smart. No objection from me.”

  My cousin actually breathed a little

  visible sigh, as though a huge weight had

  been lifted from her shoulders. “Then

  it’s settled. Celia, as for the dresses, at

  this point I honestly don’t care what they

  look like or how much they cost. Just get

  the bridesmaids into a shop and find

  something suitable. Your taste in

  clothing seems to be similar to my own.”

  Wait. She wanted me to shop for the

  bridesmaids’ dresses? With Olga and

  Natasha? I bit my tongue until I tasted

  blood. I wasn’t going to say anything

  because anything I said would come out

  bitchy. I might think all kinds of things,

  and the telepaths might hear them, but my

  lips would be sealed.

  Creede raised a single eyebrow, and I

  swear I saw the hint of a smile twitch at

  the corner of his mouth. Surely he

  couldn’t read my mind from such a long

  distance? Surely not.

  Could he?

  Another smile twitched at his lips. But

  when he spoke his voice was utterly

  bland and businesslike as he changed

  topics. “The authorities have spent the

  last several hours going over the magical

  signatures of the evidence. Both Mr.

  DeLuca’s signature and mine were on

  some of the artifacts that had been

  shattered and worked into the bullets. So

  the authorities were very interested in

  what the two of us have been up to. I

  was detained and have been answering

  questions. As, I believe, has Mr.

  DeLuca. Fortunately for each of us, it

  was obvious that the items had been

  created some time ago.”

  Oh, crap. That explained why Bruno

  looked like hell. Frankly, I was a little

  surprised he’d gotten out as quickly as

  he did. It had to have been ugly. I was

  surprised neither of them was still in

  custody or being questioned. I looked

  from one to the other. They might have

  been friends if not for me. As it was,

  they respected each other as men, mages,

  and rivals.

  Creede continued, “There was a more

  recent signature I didn’t recognize.

  Bruno, had you seen it before?”

  I stepped back so that Bruno could

  stand

  on

  the X. “It was vaguely

  familiar.” He ran his hand through his

  hair in an unconscious gesture of

  frustration. “I know I’ve seen it

  somewhere, but I can’t pin down where.

  I’d thought it might be from when we

  worked with so many people on the rift.

  But if you don’t recognize it, that can’t

  be it.”

  That got me thinking: Where had

  Bruno spent time with a bunch of magic

  users without Creede?

  The answer was obvious, at least to

  me. “The college.” Emma echoed me an

  instant later as Kevin nodded. Clearly I

  hadn’t been the only one to figure it out.

  Rizzoli looked from me to Bruno, to

  Creede, to Kevin and Emma. “All right,

  people. Somebod
y spill it. What

  college? What are we talking about?”

  I didn’t answer, just turned to Bruno.

  Rizzoli was quick. He’d catch on in a

  second without a blow-by-blow. “It’s

  got to be. Who there has enough juice—”

  Bruno’s expression was thoughtful. I

  could tell he was going through everyone

  on staff in his mind. He turned to Emma.

  “Em? Who’s tested the highest in the

  GAs?”

  “Jan.” She turned to Rizzoli. “No

  question. Jan Mortensen is one of the

  graduate assistants at the university.

  He’s a powerful mage and the most

  secretive person I know. He always

  works magic by himself, and he always

  cleans up even the tiniest trace of his

  workings once he’s done. I’ve never met

  a mage as careful as him.”

  “I’ve never worked with him,” Bruno

  admitted. He sounded surprised, like it

  should have occurred to him that it was

  unusual, but it hadn’t before.

  “No,” Em said. “And that’s weird all

  by itself. Because Sloan’s been having

  you work with everybody. You do

  amazing artifact work, better than even

  our tenured professors of magic.” Wow.

  I do believe he actually blushed at the

  compliment. Admittedly, Emma is pretty

  stingy with praise.

  She continued, musing almost to

  herself as she spoke. “But Jan’s never

  even seemed interested in spending any

  time with you and keeps avoiding me

  when I try to schedule it. But there’s a

  good chance something he worked on is

  in Dr. Sloan’s office somewhere. Sloan

  was his advisor last year.”

  “We will need to question this Jan.”

  Dahlmar spoke softly, but his voice sent

  chills up my spine. I’d had a chance to

  see some of Dahlmar’s retainers in

  action. And while they’d never done

  anything untoward, I got the distinct

  impression they would, just as soon as

  the setting was a little more private.

  “No, Your Majesty.” Rizzoli stepped

  onto the X as Bruno vacated it. His voice

  was as hard as granite, and about as

  warm. “We will need to question him.

  The attack was on American soil. We

  will be happy to cooperate and share

  information, but we are the lead

  investigators and are in charge.” He

  stepped off of the X, and in what was

  probably the most carefully planned

  “accident” of his career, stumbled and

  wound up stepping on the red button on

  the power strip, bringing the video

  conference to an abrupt end.

  Just as well. Because while the king

  hadn’t had a chance to say anything, his

  expression said more clearly than words

  that he’d do what he damned well

  pleased. Lopaka’s face had looked much

  the same.

  It seemed a lot of powerful people

  really wanted to talk to Jan. We’d just

  have to see who got there fastest.

  14

  I slathe re d myself with sunscreen—

  Emma kept extra bottles on hand for me

  —and checked my weapons while

  Rizzoli called for backup to meet him at

  the university. Rizzoli, Bruno, and I

  walked out toward the cars, leaving the

  others behind. We were halfway across

  the parking lot when the guys exchanged

  a look. Rizzoli turned to face me, pulling

  his hand out of his pocket; he was

  holding something that I couldn’t see.

  “What?” I looked from one man to the

  other, trying to figure out what was going

  on.

  “Sorry, honey. You’re not coming.

  Not this time.” Bruno didn’t sound sorry.

  He sounded smug. I’d barely opened my

  mouth to argue when I heard the crack of

  a spell disk breaking and found I

  couldn’t say anything.

  I’d been hit with a full body bind. I

  couldn’t move a muscle.

  The bastard.

  Once upon a time I’d suggested this

  exact spell to Creede. He’d worked out

  the kinks and started mass-producing

  different variations. The one favored by

  law enforcement froze all of the major

  muscles, but left the heart and lungs

  alone. Some people could even manage

  the occasional finger twitch. The binding

  lasted for ten minutes—long enough for

  the bad guy to be cuffed and put in the

  back of the squad car. From what I’d

  heard, John had been making a fortune

  off of them. They were certainly useful. I

  wasn’t surprised Rizzoli stocked them. I

  was just surprised he’d use it on me.

  “He’s right, Graves,” Rizzoli said.

  “You’re sitting this one out. I respect

  you and you’re capable as hell. But

  you’ve been named a target by these

  guys and you’re a civilian. I can’t risk it.

  I wouldn’t be taking DeLuca here if I

  didn’t need him for permission to search

  the office. I am sorry.” At least he

  sounded like he meant it. Of course that

  didn’t make me any less pissed when I

  watched him walk over to my Miata and

  let the air out of two of my tires.

  “I can’t believe you did that!” Emma

  stood in the doorway, glaring from

  Bruno to Rizzoli and back again. Kevin,

  a step or so behind her, was chortling.

  “She’ll be fine in ten minutes,” Bruno

  assured her. “And you know how

  Mortensen feels about her, and even

  vampires can be killed by magic. Do you

  really think she should come along?”

  Emma’s lips tightened into a thin line.

  “No, but that’s not the point.”

  Bruno didn’t argue. Instead, he picked

  me up at the waist and carried me into

  the shade, where he leaned me against

  the trunk of a tree like a freaking

  surfboard. Leaning over, he gave me a

  quick peck on the lips.

  I have never wanted to knee a man in

  the crotch so badly in my life. He had no

  idea how thankful he should have been

  for that full body bind. Not a clue.

  “Gotta go. Love you.”

  Emma came out to stand beside me,

  looking grim, as Bruno and Rizzoli

  drove away in Rizzoli’s car. She

  showed me the set of keys she was

  holding. “They didn’t disable my car.

  When the spell breaks, you can take it.

  But you have to promise me you’ll be

  careful. Jan is powerful, smart, and he

  really does hate you. I don’t know why.”

  I would’ve promised … if I could’ve.

  As it was I just stood there like a

  freaking statue, my mouth partially open.

  I was so furious I wanted to cry, but I

  couldn’t even do that. I was so

  completely helpless. Every second

  stretched into eternity. Emma,
bless her

  heart, stood next to me, waiting, offering

  moral support.

  Finally, finally, the binding spell

  wore off, releasing me so suddenly that I

  stumbled and would’ve fallen over if

  Emma hadn’t caught me. It took probably

  five more minutes for the cramping to

  pass enough that I could have any hope

  of walking to the car.

  “Bruno’s going to be pissed if you let

  her go,” Kevin said. The whole time

  Emma had stood beside me, he had been

  leaning casually against the doorjamb

  with Paulie sitting calmly at his feet. He

  didn’t sound like he was going to

  interfere or like he was passing

  judgment. It was just an observation.

  “Bruno DeLuca can kiss my lily-white

  ass,” Emma snapped.

  Kevin shook his head. “Whatever. I’m

  staying out of it.”

  “Good,” Emma and I snarled in

  chorus. Raising his hands in surrender,

  Kevin backed into the house, pulling the

  door closed behind him and giving

  himself plausible deniability if Bruno

  tried to give him a hard time later.

  I climbed awkwardly into Emma’s

  little subcompact. My muscles still

  weren’t behaving normally. Fortunately

  the car had an automatic transmission. I

  wouldn’t have to try to handle the clutch

  or shift gears once I got it backed out of

  its parking spot.

  Emma pressed her keychain into my

  hand after I strapped on my seatbelt. “Be

  careful.”

  “I will. I promise.” I meant it, too. I’m

  not invincible. The events in Mexico

  showed me that all too clearly. But I

  wasn’t going to sit back and let Bruno

  get away with pulling a stunt like this.

  No way. If I did that he’d feel free to do

  it again, or something else he considered

  “necessary” or “for my own good.”

  Screw that—twice—with something

  sharp.

  It was a long drive from Emma’s to

  the university, long enough that I was

  able to calm down and think by the time

  I reached the edge of campus. Oh, I was

  still furious, but it wasn’t the blind,

  unthinking rage that had overcome me

  when that spell disk cracked open.

  They shouldn’t have done it and

  they’d both be getting hell from me about

  it later.

  But that didn’t change the reality of

  the situation.

  Dominic Rizzoli was a federal agent.

  He was smart, tough, and experienced.

  He was in charge of an investigation to

  capture a terrorist. He was entitled to